With changes in Government policy, councils in financial difficulty, and local elections taking place in large parts of the country in May, it hasn't been a quiet year in local government over the past twelve months. Newington's Avnesh Modhvadia looks back at five major local government talking points from 2018.

2018 Local Elections

After a stronger than expected showing in last year’s General Election, the polls suggested Labour would carry this momentum in to 2018, in particularly in London. Whilst Labour was able to strengthen its hold in much of London, it was unable to take key targets boroughs such as Wandsworth, Barnet and Westminster. This in many quarters has been attributed in part to internal divisions in the Labour Party and the issues it has surrounding anti-Semitism, with this being thought to be a key issue with voters in Barnet in particular.

The Liberal Democrats made some surprising gains, taking control of Richmond-upon-Thames, Kingston-upon-Thames and South Cambridgeshire from the Conservatives, whilst also coming to power in Three Rivers after a period of no overall control. Having gained more than 70 councillors across England, the election can be considered a quiet success for the Liberal Democrats.

It had been suggested the Conservatives could struggle in the election, give Labour's strong polling numbers and the issues that plaguing the party around Brexit. They did however perform better than expected in some areas, gaining Barnet and retaining several key London boroughs that were under threat, as well as Basildon and Peterborough following a collapse in the UKIP vote. Nevertheless, the swing towards Labour in London meant that overall the Tories lost councillors when compared to the 2014 election.

London Mayoral Election candidate selection

With the council elections over, focus shifted towards the run up to the 2020 London Mayoral election. As he begins his campaign for re-election, Sadiq Khan will see 2018 as a year of mixed fortunes. Although he was elected with the biggest mandate in British political history, Sadiq has faced severe criticism this year over the rise in knife crime in the capital and cuts to police services, whilst delays to Crossrail have only added to his in tray. He was however convincingly re-selected by London Labour Party members to be their candidate in 2020.

Sadiq Khan has also faced a great deal of questioning from GLA members over the new draft London Plan, particularly around policies on affordable housing, density and estate ballot regenerations. Onlookers will be watching with interest as to what he will do to tackle these issues over the coming year.

Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats announced their candidates for the election this year, in the hope of presenting a stronger challenge to Labour. After defeating his fellow Assembly Member Andrew Boff and Ealing Councillor Joy Morrissey for the nomination, Shaun Bailey was confirmed as the Conservative candidate for 2020, whilst Siobhan Benita, who previously stood an Independent in 2012, was selected by the Liberal Democrat membership for the contest.

Investment in local authorities

Local government funding has been a major talking point throughout the year, following revelations about the financial difficulties facing Surrey County Council and Northamptonshire Council.

In February, Northamptonshire became the first local authority in almost two decades to issue a section 114 notice, after it admitted it is close to effective bankruptcy and was unable to meet its financial obligations. It then had to issue its second of these in July. Surrey County Council is facing similar problems, after the authority was accused last year of agreeing an alleged “sweetheart” funding deal with the government after it planned a 15% council tax hike.

The financial challenges facing Surrey Council ultimately proved too much and Councillor David Hodge last month announced he would be stepping down as Leader of the Council. In his resignation speech, Cllr Hodge hit out at a lack of government funding, claiming councils have lost £16bn in funding since 2009; Surrey has lost £230 million.

Against this backdrop, Theresa May announced at Conservative Conference the government will be lifting the HRA Borrowing Cap for local authorities. The announcement came as something of a surprise, and suggested the government was beginning to invest more resources into local government. Indeed, Philip Hammond’s announcement in the Autumn Budget for a new Housing Infrastructure Fund and “Future High Street Fund” seemed to reinforce this.

However, these policy announcements have been met with concerns, most notably from the Chairman of the London Councils Cllr Peter John. Following the Budget announcement, Cllr John said these “cash injections and other short term measures for local government delivered in the Budget do not match the scale of the challenges facing London’s local services.” Like other council leaders

National Policy Planning Framework

With James Brokenshire and Kit Malthouse both being appointed this year in new roles, as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Minister of State for Housing and Planning respectively, there was a significant amount of interest at both local and national levels in the publication of the revised National Policy Planning Framework.  

A number of authorities welcomed the transparency of the policies, and the measures implemented to resolve the challenges in negotiating the number of affordable homes through the viability process. Councils also applauded the decision to expand of the definition of affordable housing to include social rent. However, concerns were raised over the introduction of delivery tests, which will punish authorities who do not meet their housing requirements. It is also noticeable that councils were not given any additional powers over infrastructure provisions included in planning applications.

Whilst many will be taking positives from the Framework, others are of the view  that it has not gone far enough to provide councils with the powers they need to become house builders on a significant enough scale to have an impact on their housing targets.

Movement towards unitary councils

In a speech given to the County Councils Network, James Brokenshire spoke about the “reorganisation of local government, through unitarisation of local authorities.” Proposals to create unitary councils have become a significant point of discussion in recent times. Indeed, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England has already progressed plans to amalgamate Dorset’s nine Councils into two unitary authorities by early next year. Similar plans are being considered as well for Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire.

Whilst Mr Brokenshire suggests this could help to make authorities financially sustainable and improve local services, this is untested in much of the country and many will be looking at the success or otherwise of such plans, and whether they achieve their desired outcomes or face more of the same issues.  

Conclusion

Whilst much of it has gone under the radar given other political events, 2018 has been a year of change for local government. The results of the local election and Government focus on local authorities have changed the composition and structure of various authorities across the country. Newington and the rest of the planning industry will be watching with interest as to how these events will affect local government in the coming years.